Thai PM urges those in flooded areas to be patient

aAn elderly Thai flood victim arrives in a bathing tub to receive medicine from a Thai police medical team during their visit to a flood hit neighborhood on the outskirts of Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, Nov. 14, 2011. Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra urged people in flooded areas to be patient because the government is working as hard as it can to drain the water. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
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aAn elderly Thai flood victim arrives in a bathing tub to receive medicine from a Thai police medical team during their visit to a flood hit neighborhood on the outskirts of Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, Nov. 14, 2011. Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra urged people in flooded areas to be patient because the government is working as hard as it can to drain the water. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
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Thai residents climb on a makeshift ladders hung from the tollway to a pedestrian overfly over a flooded road in Rangsit district on the outskirts of Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, Nov. 14, 2011. Thai Prime Minister Yiingluck Shinawatra urged people in flooded areas to be patient because the government is working as hard as it can to drain the water. (AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong)— AP

Thai residents climb on a makeshift ladders hung from the tollway to a pedestrian overfly over a flooded road in Rangsit district on the outskirts of Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, Nov. 14, 2011. Thai Prime Minister Yiingluck Shinawatra urged people in flooded areas to be patient because the government is working as hard as it can to drain the water. (AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong)
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A Thai couple and a dog ride on a floating material through a flooded road in Don Muang district of Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, Nov. 14, 2011. Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra urged people in flooded areas to be patient because the government is working as hard as it can to drain the water. (AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong)— AP

A Thai couple and a dog ride on a floating material through a flooded road in Don Muang district of Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, Nov. 14, 2011. Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra urged people in flooded areas to be patient because the government is working as hard as it can to drain the water. (AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong)
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Members of a Thai police medical team, from left, Dr. Monthatip Pinjvechagarn, nurse Major Sujitra Chanabumrung and pharmacist Lt. Col. Rungse Wongbunnak, ask residents, unseen, if they need any medical help as they visit a flood hit neighborhood on the outskirts of Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, Nov. 14, 2011. Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra urged people in flooded areas to be patient because the government is working as hard as it can to drain the water. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)— AP

Members of a Thai police medical team, from left, Dr. Monthatip Pinjvechagarn, nurse Major Sujitra Chanabumrung and pharmacist Lt. Col. Rungse Wongbunnak, ask residents, unseen, if they need any medical help as they visit a flood hit neighborhood on the outskirts of Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, Nov. 14, 2011. Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra urged people in flooded areas to be patient because the government is working as hard as it can to drain the water. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
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A doll is placed in a chair on the roof of a submerged car at a flooded neighborhood on the outskirts of Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, Nov. 14, 2011. Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra urged people in flooded areas to be patient because the government is working as hard as it can to drain the water. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)— AP

A doll is placed in a chair on the roof of a submerged car at a flooded neighborhood on the outskirts of Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, Nov. 14, 2011. Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra urged people in flooded areas to be patient because the government is working as hard as it can to drain the water. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
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Thai flood victims receive medicine from Thai police medical team during their visit to a flood hit neighborhood in the outskirts of Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, Nov. 14, 2011. Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra urged people in flooded areas to be patient because the government is working as hard as it can to drain the water. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)— AP

Thai flood victims receive medicine from Thai police medical team during their visit to a flood hit neighborhood in the outskirts of Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, Nov. 14, 2011. Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra urged people in flooded areas to be patient because the government is working as hard as it can to drain the water. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
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Thai flood victims, left in red boat, express their gratitude after a Thai police medical team gave them medicine in a flood hit neighborhood on the outskirts of Bangkok,Thailand, Monday, Nov. 14, 2011. Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra urged people in flooded areas to be patient because the government is working as hard as it can to drain the water. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)— AP

Thai flood victims, left in red boat, express their gratitude after a Thai police medical team gave them medicine in a flood hit neighborhood on the outskirts of Bangkok,Thailand, Monday, Nov. 14, 2011. Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra urged people in flooded areas to be patient because the government is working as hard as it can to drain the water. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
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An ill Thai woman expresses her gratitude after a Thai police medical team gave her medical care in a flood hit neighborhood on the outskirts of Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, Nov. 14, 2011. Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra urged people in flooded areas to be patient because the government is working as hard as it can to drain the water. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)— AP

An ill Thai woman expresses her gratitude after a Thai police medical team gave her medical care in a flood hit neighborhood on the outskirts of Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, Nov. 14, 2011. Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra urged people in flooded areas to be patient because the government is working as hard as it can to drain the water. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
/ AP

BANGKOK 
Thailand's prime minister is urging people in flooded areas to be patient, saying the government is working as hard as it can to drain the water.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said Monday that the flooding situation that has plagued the country since late July is improving as waters recede. However, she noted that water spreading across western Bangkok could drain more slowly than in other areas of the capital.

She urged people to "tolerate the flooding situation and turn unity into power to struggle through the crisis." Yingluck made the comments on her Facebook page.

The national death toll from Thailand's worst floods in more than half a century has reached 562. The floods are still affecting 22 of the country's 77 provinces.